Author
Topic: Goat Taleggio - Fiacco di capra (Read 1437 times)

Decided I wanted a distinctively pungent cheese and Taleggio seems to be user friendly (plus I've got a cool Taleggio mold from Yoav that I need to initiate). Goat milk, being much cheaper for me is the milk of choice and a little research seems to indicate Fiacco di capra is the name of the style (tired goat). I guess I should have had them chased around the paddock for a couple of hours prior to milking but I'll save that detail for later makes.

Starting pH of the milk is 6.53after adding mother culture at 1.75% pH is 6.48will rennet at 6.4Ok, got distracted and the flora danica decided to out do itself. Renneted at pH 6.33 with 13 drops calf rennet in cold water.Didn't start the stop watch on time. I think I'm a minute or so off......oh, that's right, it's Friday the 13th.......geez!Aaaannnndddd - it still flocc'd in ten minutes.....I think I'm going to just start whispering rennet over the milk three times to make it coagulate.Will cut in 30 more minutes......4:1 floc factor.Adhered to Peter Dixons technique for cutting. Cut into 2-3 inch cubes and waited five minutes. Then cut into hazelnut sized pieces 1/2-3/4 inch cubes. I let it set five minutes and then stirred for about 5 minutes. I've started to sanitize my hands and arms and use my hand to stir. I think the risk of contamination is minimal and I am starting to get a feel for the curds. I've also seen a lot of videos of alpine cheese making and they dive in pretty much head first to scoop out the curd so I don't think I'm messing it up.

Luckily the flora danica is a wimpy acidifier and in spite of the jump while I was distracted by my attention grubbing macaw, I hooped at pH 6.2 so hopefully I'll get the desired texture.

The curd from three gallons of goat pretty much filled the 7.5 inch taleggio mold to the top. Whey is draining really fast so it'll be interesting to see what the final height is going to be. The mold is advertised for 2kg so I suppose you'd have to let it drain for a bit and then add the remaining curd as it settles. I also used the four way divider since I tend to give cheese away and that makes a nice little package (also makes them easier to handle while washing etc.)

The curd has settled about an inch in the time it took me to type this so I think when all is said and done it'll be just about the right thickness.

I didn't use a cheese cloth for this one since I don't really see how you could with the splitter. Am I asking for drainage problems or is this normal for this cheese. I haven't really seen anything definitive on the topic........comments from the experts?

I did a near identical make last weekend: 3 gallon goat milk into the taleggio mold with the four way divider. I used different cultures.

I expected the curd to drift down past half way to at least the level of the top of the divider. Problem was that it didn't. After about an hour the curd level didn't sink any more. It remained about an inch and a half below the lip of the mold. At 5 hrs I unmolded and carved the divider out of the curd mass, cutting it into 4 blocks. They were slightly elongated cubes.

I brined two and dry salted two. The brined cubes remained blocky whereas the dry salted ones flattened out quite a bit. The flatter cheeses are closer to the desired form factor.

They're ugly, but I'm starting to wash them this week anyway. Time will tell if they'll age to an edible end result (if I don't lose heart with them in the meantime. There were other problems with my make.)

Perhaps your curd is softer and will compress adequately, but I'm thinking 3 gallons may be too much for a single mold.

I had the same issue for the most part. I think 2 or 2.5 gallons is the right amount for this mold. I don't really like the divider either since it doesn't drain the cheese so it doesn't form a good rind. I must have had more moisture since mine finally drained to slightly below the divider level but not as far as I'd like. Pictures give some idea of the proportions they ended up. Possibly kind of thick but i think with enough time they should ripen.

Glad I found this post :-). I'm was researching Tallegio molds just this evening and discovered the divider...thought "what I cool idea". Now I'm wondering why you say the curds don't drain as well with the divider? Should I really reconsider the divider? Could you maybe just cut the final curd mass into four if you wanted baby-Tallegios?

The divider isn't expensive and it has come in handy for me at times. I used it when making feta and Neufchâtel quite successfully. You just want to be sure the curd will sink at least half way. Not always easy to judge when making a new cheese the first time.

Some say cutting a cheese that's done draining can make for an imperfect or uneven rind, but just as many say its fine to do. On a softer, moist unpressed cheese I don't have a problem with cutting them.

Another thought is that when using the divider two sides of each block won't be exposed to drainage holes in the mold. I haven't found that to make a big difference so far.

The side you see is one that was next to the divider. I'll take a pic in the morning of the side that was next to the drainage holes. It has less mechanical openings and a much more perfect rind I think that having the drainage holes makes a more closed rind. For this guy I don't know that it will matter since it will soon (hopefully) be rampant with B. Linens and that will keep other, less desirable things at bay.

The real issue I had was not knowing how much the mold really held. I think they sell the identical mold on Rikki's site and they recommend 2.5 gallons which is what I'll probably go with next time. I think this one will be ok, it'll just take a little longer to ripen to the middle. Part of the fun is figuring things out.

I'm having a lot of fun with the smear and bloomy rinds at the moment. I think my cheese press is getting lonely. I wont' be able to make cheese again for two weeks due to classes but I've got enough laid up to keep me happy for a while.

This thread is supplying useful information for Taleggio mould users. My recently-bought mould with divider has not seen any action yet, but this information helps me understand what I will be seeing when I do use it to make Taleggio (or Saint Paulin, Pont l'Eveque, etc.).

When I made the Chevrotin's I didn't really notice any different settling when compared to cow's milk in Reblochon's. I used pretty much exactly the same make so not too sure if the solid content is going to make as much of a difference as the actual make itself but I could be wrong. The biggest thing I noticed was that the rind that was next to the mold itself (the part with the holes) was much smoother and "rind like" than the edges that were touching the divider (which has no provision for draining). The side you see in the picture is the one that was touching the divider. As you can see there are a lot of mechanical openings which I suspect are caused by the whey not draining quickly. It might be possible to use a piece of cheesecloth over the divider walls somehow to facilitate draining. I will get a pic after work of the edge that was touching the side of the mold with the drain holes. One thing to note is I did NOT use cheesecloth in this mold due mostly to the divider. I figured it was like a Camembert and didn't need cloth.

I think if I were to do it again I would make a single cheese since I managed to find some tupperware boxes that will hold a cheese of that size. I agree though that for a soft cheese it's nice to have four smaller cheeses than one very large one. Facilitates giving it to people and just generally handling it. Perhaps they will all turn out just fine and all this is just over thinking things.

Maybe Linuxboy or iratherfly would have more of an opinion of the divider and whether is has adverse affects.

The Goat Taleggio is coming along good. The schmeir is still seriously nasty looking but it's turning a nice shade of orange and starting to smell like a sweat sock. The cheese is starting to soften slightly so I think eventually it's going to be all right even though it's slightly too thick. Haven't had much time for making cheese but I can at least wash it. Right now it gets washed and turned twice and then a day of rest. Next week I think I'm going to give it two days of rest between washings. I'm keeping it at 53 degrees and 97 percent humidity for the time being. How long does everyone generally wash these things?

Coming along very nicely. Your's are much prettier than the first taleggio that I have going right now. Mine are so soft the don't want to hold their shape through flipping.

You could easily wash only once a week at this point, now that your rinds are well formed. As for how long; I should say up until they're ready to eat, going down to washing perhaps once or twice a month. They should be ripe for the plate before long.